- 9/7/12
- 24,935
- 23,326
- 113
A little while ago a guy on the forum contacted me, asked me to swap the dial and insert on his Phong built 6538, plus he says there's a problem with the crown, and the dial moves when he winds the watch - he's supplying the parts, it seems straight forward enough, so I don't really ask too many more questions.
I've sold gen 4 & 5 digit GMT and Sub parts many times to both Phong and his son, they pay fast, and are easy to deal with. This will be the first watch built by Phong I get up close to - I've seen plenty of his cases, and as long as they haven't been refinished by them, then the case is OK - it's a standard Viet' case with Phongs stamps and engravings, which are of pretty good quality.
Later, when I've finished working on it, I ask the owner a few more questions, as I'm surprised by the watch. Turns out it was built by Jensen, Phongs son, so 'technically' not a Phong build, but it uses Phong parts and Jensen trained under his father so . . .
Price of it was a shock - £1500 / $2000 US.
So when it arrives I see that the case is in it's unpolished, 'raw' state, the dial is of mediocre quality - gold paint, not true gilt, the bezel ring is nickel plated brass and looks brand new, the gilt hands have a unique brushed finish to them, and the movement is a Valanvron 24 - no, I didn't know what it was either. Thanks to the internet, an explanation:
"The Valanvron watch company in Switzerland apparently assembles and finishes ST21 (Sea-Gull's clone of the ETA 2824) ebauches as legally 'Swiss Made' movements, designated Valanvron 24. Valanvron is not a manufacturer but an assembler/finisher, similar to what Sellita and Soprod used to be before they became manufacturers (by cloning the ebauches they originally worked with)".
So, an asian clone assembled in Switzerland to get around the Made in Switzerland laws.
I always forget to do 'before' pics, so some low res' pics the owner sent me before shipping to me:
Quite underwhelming, aside from the inaccuracies in the dial etc, the lume on the hands don't match the dial, and it doesn't really ooze authenticity.
What I find when I open it up - notice the position of the centre hole in the dial in relation to the movement hour wheel etc.
The burring around the centre hole of the dial, where it's been hacked away at with some sort of tool.
The owner told me that Jensen informed him the movement had been modified to accept the gen spec dial - confirmation can be seen here. Scotch tape rolled over on itself was holding the dial in place.
The movement ring (of a $2000 watch).
The hands with their unique brushed finish - very difficult to capture in a pic, but it looks like they were run over 400 grade W&D paper. Definitely not gen spec.
$2000 is a lot of money to spend on a rep which contains no gen parts whatsoever.
This is the result after some fairly simple work - new dial, hands, both relumed, new insert with some patina added, case refinished, bezel ring reworked - what the watch should have looked like in the beginning IMO, considering it's price and provenance. If it had been a HR 6538 at $500 then it would have been slightly more understandable.
I've sold gen 4 & 5 digit GMT and Sub parts many times to both Phong and his son, they pay fast, and are easy to deal with. This will be the first watch built by Phong I get up close to - I've seen plenty of his cases, and as long as they haven't been refinished by them, then the case is OK - it's a standard Viet' case with Phongs stamps and engravings, which are of pretty good quality.
Later, when I've finished working on it, I ask the owner a few more questions, as I'm surprised by the watch. Turns out it was built by Jensen, Phongs son, so 'technically' not a Phong build, but it uses Phong parts and Jensen trained under his father so . . .
Price of it was a shock - £1500 / $2000 US.
So when it arrives I see that the case is in it's unpolished, 'raw' state, the dial is of mediocre quality - gold paint, not true gilt, the bezel ring is nickel plated brass and looks brand new, the gilt hands have a unique brushed finish to them, and the movement is a Valanvron 24 - no, I didn't know what it was either. Thanks to the internet, an explanation:
"The Valanvron watch company in Switzerland apparently assembles and finishes ST21 (Sea-Gull's clone of the ETA 2824) ebauches as legally 'Swiss Made' movements, designated Valanvron 24. Valanvron is not a manufacturer but an assembler/finisher, similar to what Sellita and Soprod used to be before they became manufacturers (by cloning the ebauches they originally worked with)".
So, an asian clone assembled in Switzerland to get around the Made in Switzerland laws.
I always forget to do 'before' pics, so some low res' pics the owner sent me before shipping to me:
Quite underwhelming, aside from the inaccuracies in the dial etc, the lume on the hands don't match the dial, and it doesn't really ooze authenticity.
What I find when I open it up - notice the position of the centre hole in the dial in relation to the movement hour wheel etc.
The burring around the centre hole of the dial, where it's been hacked away at with some sort of tool.
The owner told me that Jensen informed him the movement had been modified to accept the gen spec dial - confirmation can be seen here. Scotch tape rolled over on itself was holding the dial in place.
The movement ring (of a $2000 watch).
The hands with their unique brushed finish - very difficult to capture in a pic, but it looks like they were run over 400 grade W&D paper. Definitely not gen spec.
$2000 is a lot of money to spend on a rep which contains no gen parts whatsoever.
This is the result after some fairly simple work - new dial, hands, both relumed, new insert with some patina added, case refinished, bezel ring reworked - what the watch should have looked like in the beginning IMO, considering it's price and provenance. If it had been a HR 6538 at $500 then it would have been slightly more understandable.
